A study published in the journal BJPsych Open highlights the lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in a cohort of UK individuals determined through self-reported online questionnaires. This study is a reanalysis of data previously published in 2018.
An expert working group developed an online mental health questionnaire for participants from the UK Biobank to complete regarding lifetime symptoms of mental disorders. A total of 157,366 participants aged 45-82 years completed the questionnaires.
Thirty-four per cent of respondents reported receiving at least one psychiatric diagnosis from a mental health professional at some time, and 12 per cent reported receiving two or more diagnoses. Among lifetime disorders, 24 per cent of respondents met the criteria for lifetime depression, 21 per cent for current harmful alcohol use, 7 per cent for generalised anxiety disorder, 6 per cent for current post-traumatic stress disorder and 2 per cent for hypomania/mania. High neuroticism score, adverse life events and long-term illness were significant risk factors for mental disorders.
Emphasising the importance of these findings, the authors commented: "Given the known impact of mental health on physical health, mental health data and its associations should interest researchers from every biomedical speciality."
